Commentary: Guns offer false sense of security

Every year nearly 35,000 Americans meet their demise at the end of a gun barrel.

The FBI recorded almost 15,000 murders by guns last year. The Brady Center in Washington, D.C., said there were about 20,000 suicides committed by guns in 2016.

There is a murder and suicide epidemic in this country. The Weapons Man, a pro-gun website, estimates there may be as many as 600 million guns circulating in the U.S. and four trillion rounds of ammunition. There are about two guns for every man, woman and child in the U.S. Obviously, we need fewer guns, not more.

For years, the National Rifle Association has been the richest, most powerful, political lobby in the United States. Founded in 1871, the NRA was originally designed to teach gun safety and target practice techniques. Unfortunately, it's evolved into a considerably more militant and aggressive organization. NRA President Wayne LaPierre, a driven man, has transformed the association into a powerful PAC (Political Action Committee) that strong-arms congressmen, particularly Republicans who now reside snuggly in the NRA's pocket.

The NRA is producing a series of outrageous videos titled "A shot across the bow," summarized by the threat "We're coming for you," using the hashtag: "@Counterresistence (and) clenchedfistsoftruth." The NRA is paranoid that liberal elites are threatening their very survival. Nothing could be further from the truth. The director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center in Pennsylvania, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, said the NRA's message is ladled with overwrought rhetoric that viewed by the wrong person could lead to violence.

SANDAG's revised population for Ramona is 37,000 people spread over 131 square miles. There are three gun shops downtown. Virtually anyone can go into a store and come out with a gun and ammo after a background check and 10-day waiting period. Gun prices generally range from $400 on up. NRA's most successful marketing tool is its ability to convince ordinary citizens that they need to be armed and that their lives and property are in constant jeopardy.

County taxpayers pay generously all year to fund the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, whose motto is emblazoned on every patrol car: "Keeping the peace since 1850." This strategy has served Ramonans well for nearly 170 years.

The NRA has its own cable TV network titled NRA TV, the Gun Lobby's web video set, it dramatizes people fighting police and protesting. The web video is nothing more than a platform for propaganda. NRA's spokesperson Dana Loesch said "The times are burning and the media elite have been caught holding the match."

That's what happened in Newtown (Sandy Hook), Conn. Christmas 2012 when a 20-year-old man was able to assemble an arsenal and went on a killing spree. He left his mother among the first dead, and soon after 20 kindergarten and first-graders murdered in cold blood along with six school teachers, all in a matter of minutes. Even after this carnage, the NRA doubled down on its efforts to dissuade Congress from passing any meaningful regulations for high-powered weapons like the AR-15, literally a highly efficient killing machine.

The argument that guns in the home prevent burglaries and home invasions is largely a myth. It is rare for a homeowner to use his weapons to fight a marauding criminal. Much more common, the gun is used to kill family members, often in a heated argument or suicide by a distraught individual in the family.

If a Ramona resident absolutely feels he or she must have a gun for a false sense of security, they would be wise to purchase a low caliber weapon at one of the three Ramona gun shops, and train at the fully loaded indoor shooting range in Poway.